Despite being open since November, the offer was closed on March 15 without Blue Ensign meeting the requirements for listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.

As a result, the board is now seeking to raise additional working capital by placing its shares and associated options privately.

In addition to this money, the proposed Julia Creek pilot program will be funded by more capital raisings, the sale of a royalty interest and introduction of a joint venture partner.

Blue Ensign said it would consider its options, including whether to seek listing at a later date or even on another stock exchange.

The project will allow Blue Ensign to start testing a process for extracting oil from a large shale deposit in northwest Queensland.

Blue Ensign owns the rights to the patented Rendall Process and an 87 square kilometre tenement near Julia Creek, assessed to contain between 900 million and 2 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

In early February, the technology's inventor and majority Blue Ensign shareholder John Rendall passed away.

As a contingency, Blue Ensign had spent the past two years taking the necessary steps to implement its business plan without relying on the inventor of the process.